The Blue Lady
by JediGurrl
Summary: Alternate ending to 'Pollo Loco.' The Blue Lady appears just in time to save Ben. But is she the savior that he believes she is? Feedback is welcomed
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer type thing, I don't own any of the characters from 'Dark Angel', I'm not making any money off this story and so on and so forth, so it would be silly to sue me over this little trifle.  
This is an alternate ending to 'Pollo Loco.' It is not how I think the episode SHOULD have ended, merely how it COULD have ended, so please don't get mad at me for messing up the storyline.  
  
'The Blue Lady'  
  
Max cradled Ben's head in her lap, "Tell me about the Good Place." Ben looked up at her, then past her, "The Blue Lady." He breathed. Max turned to look, standing behind her was a woman wearing a sky blue cloak over a black tank top and jeans. The woman reached her hand out to Max, "I'll take care of him now." A look of peace crossed Ben's face, he reached up and brushed a tear away from Max's cheek, "You go Maxie." The woman knelt down next to Max and took her hand, "You get out of here Max. Lydecker's on his way." Max looked down at Ben, "Goodbye Ben." She got to her feet and ran off into the woods. Now the woman cradled Ben's head in her lap. Ben looked worried, "Lydecker's coming?" The woman smiled, "Don't worry," she said, wrapping her cloak around him, "They won't see you." Ben looked puzzled, "Why?"  
"Because they don't want to see me. Mortal minds are so easy to manipulate. Are you in pain?" Ben nodded, the woman ripped a hole in the knee of Ben's pants, and then she used a razor-sharp fingernail to slice open his skin just below where Max had broken his knee. Ben hissed in pain, "What are you doing?" The woman put a finger to his lips, "Hush, trust me." She cut the palm of her hand, letting the blood drip into the wound in Ben's leg. She put her hand over his knee, letting her blood flow into him, "My blood will heal you." Moments later, Ben was writhing in agony, the pain of his knee healing was even worse than the pain of it being broken, the woman brushed his hair away from his eyes with her free hand, "Shhh, it'll all be over soon. Then you can come away with me."  
"To the Good Place?" Ben gasped painfully. The woman smiled sadly, "I've never called it that, but you can believe whatever you want."  
"I don't understand."  
"You will, all in good time." She ran her finger across his wound sealing the skin, then she helped him to his feet, "Come on Ben, let's go home." They walked away into the woods, into the deep shadows. After about five minutes of walking they came to a small log cabin, and one of Lydecker's men. The woman yanked the soldier's head to one side, exposing his throat momentarily before sinking her fangs into his jugular. She drained him almost to the point of death and let him fall to the ground. Ben backed away in terror, "You drank his blood." The woman wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, "Yes, I did. It's what keeps me strong. Ben shook his head, "You're a Nomlee." The woman held her hands up in front of her, palms out, "No Ben. I'm a true predator, just like you." Ben shook his head again, "No. I'm not like you." The woman smiled, "Yes you are Ben. You enjoy the taste of blood." Ben was suddenly standing in front of her, one hand around her neck, tears streaming down his face. The woman laughed dryly, "Are you going to kill me Ben? Murder the Blue Lady?" Ben sobbed, the woman reached up to touch his cheek, "It's alright Ben. Everything will be okay." Ben shook his head, still sobbing. His hand slipped from the woman's neck. She cradled his head against her chest, "Come inside Ben. I'll explain everything. You can join me. Use your full potential." Ben pulled away, "I've tried to be a good soldier." The woman stroked his cheek, "I'm sure you have. But you don't need to anymore. I'll make all the pain go away. All the remorse. Everything. Just let me. Trust me."  
"I trust you."  
  
The End?  
Your feedback is much appreciated.  



	2. A Past Revealed

Thanks to some excellent feedback, I've decided to continue my story. So here's the second chapter.  
  
'A Past Revealed'  
  
The woman led Ben into the cabin, it was cool inside, and mostly dark. The woman's eyes seemed to glow in the half-light, "Now Ben, I'm going to give you a choice, you can leave now, go back to what you were doing before. Risking capture by Lydecker, risking probable death. Or you can let me change you, into what you've always feared you were."  
"A Nomlee. Max said that I was a Nomlee."  
"Max was wrong. I've been watching you Ben. Ever since you came to Seattle. At first I thought you were one of my own kind, come to challenge me for my rightful prey. But after you left that body, I realized that you were something else. Why did you remove his teeth and leave them on a Holy altar?" Ben knit his brow, "You don't know?" The woman hung her cloak on the protruding horn of a Death Mask beside the door, "I'm not who you think I am Ben. The pendant I understand, and now I understand the tattoo as well. But why the teeth?"  
"They keep Her heart strong. So She can protect us. If you're not Her, then who are you?" The woman smiled predatorily, and sprawled in an armchair with an easy, catlike grace, "My name is Carmine Harengs. I'm a Vampire." Ben laughed harshly, "Vampires are a myth." Carmine leaned forward and grinned, allowing her fangs to show, "Oh, I assure you, we're very real." Ben sat down on the sofa across from her, "But you were out in the sun." Carmine relaxed back into the chair, "Yes. Some of us can be. Most of us simply prefer the dark. I do, sunlight hurts my eyes."  
"If I leave now, will you come looking for me again?"  
"No. That goes both ways. If you leave now, we'll never see each other again. Even if we want to. You have this one chance at Immortality." Ben studied Carmine's face, "Were you given a choice?" She smiled, "Oh yes. But it was far more simple, and more difficult, than the one I am giving you. The choice I was given was Immortality or Death." Ben leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "Tell me." Carmine closed her eyes and sighed wearily, "Before I begin you have to understand, this happened almost a hundred years ago, and things were more, innocent, then." She ran her hands across her face and through her hair, "I was born in 1901 and lived a fairly normal life for a child, and young woman, of the time. In 1921, when, in my naïveté, I thought I could take on the world. A group of Immortals attacked the small town where I lived in the south of France. I watched as they started at one end of the town square, brutally attacking and killing anyone they came in contact with. My people were powerless to resist, the Immortals seemed to cloud their minds, their wills. When they found me in the hayloft, I fought back, with all the strength my small frame contained. While I was kicking and screaming, I couldn't believe that I was capable of harming anyone, let alone someone as beautiful as the man in front of me, who was devouring me with his eyes. He smiled a beautiful, bloodstained smile, 'Bonjour dangereuse jeune dame.' He said, calling me a 'Dangerous young lady' before tearing into my throat. The pain of being bitten was nothing compared to the pain of dieing. He drained me to the point of death then offered me 'salvation' in the form of Immortality. As I said before, I was naive when I was young. You can tell what I chose. So now Ben, I'm giving you the choice. Stay as you are, mortal, easily damaged, capable of remorse, prey. Or join me and become Immortal, strong, a true predator. It's up to you Ben."  
  
Actually it's up to you, the reader, you get to decide how the story should end. Should Ben give up everything he's ever known and become what he's always feared? Or should he give up the Blue Lady and go back to running from Manticore? Or is there a third option? I'll wait until I get a majority of votes for one ending, or May 14th (whichever comes first) to start writing the third (and final) chapter. Thank you for your time.  



End file.
